 We are going to go ahead into the fourth session, fifth session before lunch, and just a reminder to you, if you want to purchase anything, and I haven't talked about the books and I really don't have time to, but if you want to purchase anything, you will need to do that during the lunch hour because Debbie will pack up. We have to catch a 423 flight out of Orlando, and Orlando Airport is a booger to get out of, and so we have to make sure that we get there. I think I've told you all the story. One time I left here, we had a rental car and we ended up at the wrong airport. We checked the car in, actually, and I said, where's American Airlines? And they said, you're at the wrong airport. So we got back in the car and I said, Debbie, it will only be an act of God if we make it to MCO. We were at the Sanford Airport. And so we made it only to get in the line of TSA and the guy in front of us is throwing up in that little bin that you're supposed to put your clothes in or whatever. He was throwing up and we finally made it through security and literally ran with the last people to board the plane. And we made it, but I think the sun stood still that day. And so anyway, we've learned that you have to allow a little extra time in Orlando. I guess it's because of Disney World. But anyway, so we will need to leave after the final session. So if you want to purchase anything, it will need to be done during the lunch hour. All right. If you will, for this session before lunch, if you will turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. As a teacher of the Word of God, most weeks I have opportunities from the Lord to live out the lesson that I'm going to teach. And this week was no different because just a few nights ago, actually after I got to Orlando the first night, Thursday night, we were with a group of ladies. And before I went to bed that night, a sudden event occurred which caused me to go to bed that evening. I didn't sleep well saying exactly what Jehoshaphat prayed. Lord, I don't know what to do. I do not know what to do in this situation, but my eyes are on you. I need wisdom and I need help for this situation. And you know, I would say probably a week doesn't go by in each of our lives that you also have said the same thing. Something suddenly comes up and, Lord, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I need your help. And there are times in our life where life just seems overwhelming. And I don't know about you, but it seems to me sometimes trials just come one after another after another. We don't know what to do. Where do we turn? Who do we turn to? Well, I'm excited about our lesson before we go to lunch in the sense that we're going to learn 11 practical principles from King Jehoshaphat when facing what seems like the impossible. And in 2 Chronicles 20, we're going to see what prompted this prayer of Jehoshaphat and learn a lot from his example. Now, if you have an outline there, we're going to look at his problem. We're going to look at his response, his prayer, the Lord's response, the victory. And then, as Paul Harvey would say, I know some of you young girls don't even know who that is. But as Paul Harvey would say, we're going to consider the rest of the story. So before we get into the text, just a little bit of information about Jehoshaphat. He was the son. See, that's what happens when they starve me. They won't let me eat. He was the son of King Asa. He received an excellent heritage from his father Asa. Jehoshaphat faith in God led him to delight in the ways of the Lord. In fact, his name actually means the Lord is judge. Jehoshaphat was 35 years old when he became king and he reigned over Israel for 25 years. And he did a lot in those 25 years. I mean, he attacked pagan idolatry. He taught the people about God. In fact, they say that the reign of Jehoshaphat really was one of unusual activity spiritually. You know, a lot of the times we read 1st and 2nd crings, 1st and 2nd chronicles, and we see, and so and so became king and he did wicked. And then his son became king and he caused Israel to be more wicked, but not King Jehoshaphat. He didn't want to do wicked. He seemed to want to do the right thing before the Lord. In fact, his really, his life is summed up. Don't turn there. 2nd chronicles 229. It says, Jehoshaphat who sought the Lord with all of his heart. And so this was a man that was really tracking, really trying to do the right thing for the nation of Israel. And so all seems to be going well with this young king. He's 35 years of age. In fact, we leave him. We don't have time to read chapter 19. But we leave him in chapter 19 enjoying peace and prosperity and just everything's going great until you get to chapter 20 verses 1 and 2. And may I say, ladies, do you know that I have found in my life that that is when the biggest battle seemed to come? When everything seems to be going right. I mean, it's like life can't get any better than this. I mean, everything's perfect, going well. And then wamo, you know, the big trial comes. And that is what is happening here in Jehoshaphat's life. So let's look at his problem verses 1 and 2 of chapter 20. It came to pass after this, the children of Moab, children of Amnon and some of the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. And there came some who told Jehoshaphat saying, There comes a great multitude against you from beyond the sea of the site of Syria. And behold there it has a Gontemar which is in Indigad. Now, everything is going well for Jehoshaphat, his kingdom, until the threat of the invasion by the Moabites and the Ammonites. Now, ladies, put yourself in Jehoshaphat's shoes. How would you feel if you were the king? And all of a sudden, you know, we could say ISIS is going to overtake us or something. I mean the Ammonites and the Moabites, they're coming in and they're going to invade your territory. And you don't have an army to fight against them. There's no way you're going to win this battle. You know what? You would feel the same way he feels. You know how he felt? Look at verse 2 or 3. Jehoshaphat feared. He was afraid. What? The king of Israel afraid? You think Donald Trump ever gets fearful? I bet he does. Afraid? That seems strange, right? That a king would be afraid. You wouldn't think such an important person like a king would be afraid. Ladies, fear is an emotion that God has given us. It's an emotion that we have and yet we must never in our fear sin. We must not let fear overtake us. We must not allow fear of anything to be a temptation to sin. In fact, if you'll notice here, Jehoshaphat did not allow himself to wallow in that fear. He didn't have a panic attack. He didn't take anxiety drugs. You know what he did? Look what it says he did after it says he was afraid. He set himself to seek the Lord. The surprise added to the fright. Holy fear, ladies, should be a motivation to prayer. You know why he did? Why he set himself to seek the Lord? He knew he couldn't do anything. I imagine if right now we got, you know, that alarm went off all ago for fire. But I imagine if that alarm went off all ago and said, you know, ISIS is getting ready to invade all of Orlando, I hope that all of us would get off our knees and start praying, right? There's nothing we can do within ourselves to fight that without the help of the Lord. And the same with Jehoshaphat. He knew he couldn't do anything, nothing. And so he sets himself to seek the Lord. Now, what does it mean here when he says it sought the Lord? Well, you know the word actually means in the Hebrew he worshipped. He worshipped the Lord. Ladies, in the midst of his fear, Jehoshaphat worships. Is that what you do when you're afraid? Do you worship the Lord? Principle number one, next time you don't know what to do if you're taking notes. Principle number one, worship the Lord. Worship the Lord. Well, notice also Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast throughout all Judah. So this means not only would Jehoshaphat fast, but he called the nation to fast. And it's interesting, up until now there is no king mentioned that called for the nation to fast. Now, there are people afterwards that did, Joel did, other, however the prophets did, but Jehoshaphat is the first king that calls the nation to fast. And you know what? This would have been extended to children and infants. Look at verse 13. All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Now ladies, can you imagine, it's one thing for you to fast, but can you imagine telling, I saw a newborn baby here earlier, you know, sorry honey, no milk today. You know, the king has called to fast. In fact, we even know from Jonah the beast and the cattle all fasted too. I mean, imagine going home telling little Bow Wow, no doggy food today. Because Donald Trump has called to fast for all of America, he says it is extended to children and babies and all the beasts of the field. They can't eat either. And so Jehoshaphat calls a fast. Ladies, principle number two, next time you don't know what to do and you're in a tough situation, ask others to assist you in prayer and fasting. Ask others to assist you in prayer and fasting. You know, I believe we miss out on such a blessing by not fasting. You know, Jesus doesn't say if you fast. He says when you fast and when you fast indicating what all God's children should be fasting. And I have to tell you over my years of being a believer, I've seen the Lord work in some pretty unusual ways. Not only when I would fast and pray, but I ask others to fast and pray with me or I have fasted and prayed with others for certain situations. And I think we miss out on such a blessing. In fact, if you will look in all of scripture, do you know that in every instance where God's people fasted and prayed, God intervened except for one? Every single one except for David. When David fasted and prayed seven days, you know, he fell on the floor and prayed after he knew he wasn't going to die for his adultery but his child was going to die. So he prayed for seven days and the child did die because God can't lie. And he already said he's going to die and God is not a God who lies. But that's the only instance in all of scripture. Check me out from Genesis to Revelation. When God's people fasted and prayed, he intervened every single time. It's really sad we don't do that in our American Christianity. Well, verse 4, Judah gathers together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities of Judah and they come to seek the Lord. I don't know how many people that were in this prayer meeting. I don't know. The text doesn't tell us, but what a prayer meeting it must have been. And so we come to the actual prayer of Jehoshaphat in verses 5 to 13. Notice verse 5. Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court. Now, there are many postures of prayer and we haven't talked about this this weekend yet. But this is an example of one of them. He stands to pray. But ladies, it doesn't really matter about your posture when you pray. I know people who kneel in prayer. I know some people, my husband used to have us often in church kneel down to pray. Some people can't kneel down because if they kneel down, they'll never get up. You can lift up your hands and pray. I know we frozen chosen don't like to do that, but we can lift up our hands to pray. We can lift up our eyes to heaven. We can pray in our beds at night. We can pray in the shower. We can pray in the car. It doesn't matter. God doesn't care about the posture of your body. He cares about the posture of your heart when you pray. So you can pray anywhere. But here, Jehoshaphat stands to pray. And notice where the prayer takes place. In the house of the Lord before the new court. Now, what's the new court? Well, in Solomon's temple, there were two courts and one of these had been renovated and that's why it's called the new court because it had been renovated. I mean, you know, sometimes we try to make scripture mean more than it really means. It's just it had been renovated. And so we have the beginning of this prayer in verse six. Notice what he says. Oh, Lord God of our fathers, are you not the God in heaven? And do you not rule over the kingdoms of this nation? And in your hand is there not power in might so there is none able to withstand you? Ladies, notice Jehoshaphat begins what? Doing kind of what David did that we saw in our first lesson this morning. He acknowledges what? God's greatness. God is great. You know, many, if we had time, we could go through some of the Old Testament prayers. I don't know how many times we see this where they acknowledge God's greatness. God, you are in heaven. God, you are great. You are all powerful. You rule over these heathen nation, the Ammonites and the Moabites. God, you're great. Ladies, principle number three, when you don't know what to do, acknowledge God's greatness. He's great. He's great. In fact, we saw we can't even search His greatness. It's unsearchable. He's so great. Do you think God is bigger than any problem you're facing today? Only a few over here said yes. Do you think there's nothing that's impossible for him? I remember saying many years ago, when my husband and I went through one of the most difficult trials we'd ever had in a church that he was pastoring, I remember saying to myself, Susan, if God can part the Red Sea, He can take care of this problem. He's great. He's great. Well, next Jehoshaphat acknowledges God's goodness. Look at verse seven. Are you not God who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel? And Lord, you gave it to the seed of Abraham, your friend, forever. Ladies, God, what does Jehoshaphat is doing? Lord, you're good. You gave this land to Abraham. He's your friend. You gave it to him because you're good. Lord, you've given us this land. Now don't take it away from us. Don't let the Amnoites and the Moabites come and take away our land. Principle number four, next time you're in a no-win situation, acknowledge God's goodness. God, you're good. Ladies, there's nothing better than to remind your soul of the goodness of God and what he's already done for you in the past. God is good. He's good all the time. And he will be good in your trial. Well, notice verse eight and nine as he continues to pray. We dwell in it, Lord, and we've built a sanctuary here in your name saying, when evil comes on us or the sword, judgment, pestilence, famine, we stand before this house and in your presence, for your name is in this house. We cry to you in our affliction. You will hear and help. You might say, well, what is Solomon doing here? I mean, he's reminding the Lord of what? Well, he's reminding the Lord, really, of a promise he made to Solomon. Turn back a little bit to 2 Chronicles chapter seven, 2 Chronicles chapter seven, just a few pages back. After Solomon had built the temple and he had his prayer of dedication, the Lord appeared to him once and he appears to him a second time and he appears to him in chapter seven, verse 12. And notice what he says. The Lord appears to Solomon at night and says to him, I've heard your prayer. I've chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there is no rain or I command the locus to devour the land or if I send pestilence among my people, if my people are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, I'll heal their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For I have chosen and sanctified this house and my name might be there forever and my heart will be there perpetually. You know what Joseph that's doing? You know what? He's reminding God of his promises. Lord, you made this promise to King Solomon that if we pray to you in this place that you will hear our prayers. Lord, ladies, next time you don't know what to do. Remind God of his promises, principle number five. Remind God of his promises. Now I know some of you might think, well, we don't need to remind God of anything. Well, we certainly have examples of saints in the scriptures that did. They reminded. And maybe if you don't like that wording, remind yourself of God's promises. Remind yourself of God's promises. Promises like, Lord, you've said you'll never leave me or forsake me and yet I feel forsaken. Or Lord, you've said that you're, like we just studied, your strength is made perfect in my weakness, your grace is sufficient and yet I, Lord, I need to draw upon your grace. I need your strength in this situation. You've also said nothing's impossible for you and yet, Lord, this situation seems impossible. I don't see how you're going to work in it. Well, after Jehoshaphat reminds God of his promise, he tells God his problem. Look at verse 1011. Here's his problem. And now behold the children of Amnon, Moab, Mount Seer whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt. You turned from them and you destroyed them not. Behold, I say they are going to reward us to come and cast us out of our possession, which you gave us to inherit. Ladies, next time you don't know what to do, principle number six, tell God your problem. Tell God your problem. Maybe you say, Susan, why should I tell him? He already knows about it. Because he's your dearest friend, right? He's the one that allowed the situation to come up, right? And he's the only one that knows how it's going to end, right? You know what we do as soon as a big problem comes? In fact, I imagine right now, if something traumatic happened, many of you would grab your cell phone and post it on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook or call your husband. Many times, immediately when something comes up, we turn to someone else to tell them our problem. But ladies, we should immediately turn to the Lord. Immediately. That should be our first response. I like what the songwriter says. I must tell Jesus all of my problems. I can't bear these burdens alone. Remember we looked at Hannah last night, and she turned to the Lord, why? But I didn't understand her. Her husband didn't understand her. Eli didn't understand her. God's the only one that knew, understood her. And so Jehoshaphat does. He tells God his problem. And he continues on with his communication in verse 12. His prayer, and he says, oh God, will you not judge them? Get them. We have no mind against this great company that's coming against us. We don't know what to do. Our eyes are on you. Ladies, verse 12, interesting alone is his petition. It's only three words. God judge them. You know, our prayers are more of full of petitions than anything else, right? But not Jehoshaphat. Just get them, Lord. Get them. Inflict deserve punishment on them. You might say, well, that's kind of mean. No, not really. You know, Jehoshaphat asked for God's intervention because his army wasn't strong enough to fight against them. Lord, get them. Take them out. In fact, I imagine if ISIS were to come and invade us in the next few moments, we'd say the same thing, right? Get them. We can't do it. You know, maybe a few of you have a gun if you have a concealed carry. But you know, we're not going to be able to take them out. God, get them. In fact, he expresses his weakness in the next part of this prayer. Lord, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. Lord, I rely on you. All my expectation is from you. Ladies, principle number seven, when you don't know what to do, look to him. Turn your eyes to Jesus. Focus on God. Do you know why most of us get paralyzed with fear when something comes up? Because we focus on the circumstances that have just happened. That's what I, you know, immediately I did the other and I was like, oh, this isn't a good thing. I go, okay, no, stop it. Susan, stop it. Start praying. Lord, I don't know what to do. Help me in this situation. But we start focusing on the circumstances. We start focusing on the people that are causing the difficulty in our life. And that makes us paralyzed and we can't act. Ladies, we got to get our eyes off people off of our circumstances and turn our eyes to Jesus. He's the author. He's the finisher of our faith. The psalmist says, my eyes are ever toward the Lord. He will pluck my feet out of this net. Psalm 25, 15. Well, the prayer has ended and we read in verse 13, all Judah stood before the Lord, their little ones, their wives and their children. What a sight. Don't you wish you kind of had that on a Vimeo or a video, you know? To see that sight, the whole congregation, wives and children and infants are looking to the Lord. So how does the Lord respond to this prayer? Well, verses 14 to 19 is the Lord's response. Then upon Jehazel, the son of Zachariah, son of Ben and I, son of Jeriel, son of Matt and I, Levi, the sons of Asaph, cause came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And he said, listen, Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem, you King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord, do you? Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed by reason of this great multitude. The battle is not yours. It is God's. You know, interesting, this prophet Jehazel, you know he's not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. We don't know anything about this guy. And I don't know, God might have just sent him, you know, from heaven. He might have been an angel unaware just to encourage Jehoshaphat. In fact, we have here in this verse God's gracious answer to Jehoshaphat's prayer. And you know it was a speedy answer. While he was yet speaking, God heard him before the congregation and was dismissed from the prayer meeting. They had the assurance that they would be victorious. You know, it reminds me of what Isaiah says in Isaiah 65-24. Before they call, I will answer. While you're still speaking, I will hear. Isn't that an encouragement to you that God knows what you're going to pray even before you pray it? And many times while you're praying he's going about his business of answering it. He's working. He hears, he answers. And so this prophet Jehazel, who was sent by God, don't be afraid, don't be dismayed. Why the battle's not yours, it's God's. Ladies, we try and fight our battles and yet they're not ours to fight, right? That's the problem. We get in the way. Remember what David said to Goliath when he, you know, was going to kill him with those, you know, five little stones? The battle is the Lord's and he's going to give me into your hands, you know? I'm going to get you. Ladies, principle number eight, when all looks bleak, don't fear the battle is the Lord's. Don't fear the battle is the Lord's. In fact, notice what the prophet says in verse 16. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they're going to come up by the cliff of Ziz and you'll find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Jerul. And you're not going to need to fight in this battle. Set yourself, stand still. See the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah Jerusalem. Fear not, don't be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them. The Lord will be with you. What a deal. They are not even going to have to fight in the battle. They're not going to have to get their gocks. They're not going to have to get their swords. They're just going to get to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. He's going to deliver them. Ladies, that's what we need to do when we're going through a trial. Get out of God's way. You know, especially we as women, we kind of like to get in the way, right? Get out of the way. Let the Lord fight the battle for you. What happens? We lose. We lose. It's better when we let him fight for us. In fact, the prophet says stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, ladies, stand still doesn't mean inactivity. It doesn't mean you go, I just let go and let God do His thing. No. Because of the power of prayer, we can face any issue in our lives with confidence. We can be still and know He's God. He's going to do something. In fact, it's the attitude that Paul speaks about faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So principle number nine, when you don't know what to do, have faith. Have faith. Prophet Jehazel says, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. Have faith. You know, this is probably where most of us give foothold to Satan because we shake in our faith and we wonder, ooh, can God really? I mean, I know He can do certain things, but can He really take care of this for me? I've seen Him work in so-and-so I've been like, can He do this? You know what we're like? We're like the double-minded man in James. You know, he's going through a trial and, you know, he asks for the Lord, but he doesn't ask in faith. You know what James says about that man? That's not asking in faith. Let not that man think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's not going to get anything. The greater context in James, that guy's lost as a goose. He's lost. He wavers who God is. Ladies, have faith. Has God been faithful to you in the past? Is He faithful to you today? Yes. You think He's going to be faithful to you tomorrow? Yes. Don't know? Did somebody say, I don't know? Where are you? He is faithful. Fear not. Don't be dismayed. In fact, He says this two times, the Lord will be with you. Well, after these encouraging words from Jehazel, we have a response from Jehoshaphat and the people. Look at verses 18 and 19. All Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem fall before the Lord, worship the Lord. The Levites, Chorothites, they stand up to praise the Lord, God of Israel with a loud voice on high. Ladies, principle number 10, next time you don't know what to do, do what Joseph did, allow your circumstances to humble you. He fell down on the ground and worshiped the Lord. Allow your circumstances to humble you. Worship fall down before the Lord. In fact, the Apostle Peter, we're writing to those persecuted Christians we just talked about. You know what He says to them? Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you. You know He's telling those readers, those persecuted Christians, you've got two choices when going through trials. You can either humble yourself, like Joseph did, and God will exalt you. Or you can remain exalted, haughty, and watch the Lord humble you. I don't know about you, I would rather humble myself, right? And that's what we see Joseph at doing here. He bows before the Lord. He allows His circumstances to humble Him. Joseph at didn't shake his fist at God, he worshiped, he revered Him. Well, not only did he worship, but notice verse 19, they stand up, Levi's Corithites, they stand up to praise the Lord. Ladies, principle number 11, next time you don't know what to do, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. One of the ladies that disciples me, that's going to be 85 this year, 85 or 86, can't remember which it is. I had lunch with her the other day, she's such a dear, dear saint of God. But she said to me many years ago, Susan, it's amazing what praising can do. You think I'm from the south, she's from Atlanta, so she really has a southern accent. It's amazing what praising can do. And you know, that's true. I have found that to be true in my own life. If I will just start praising the Lord through song, and here we see them, that's what they're doing here. And just admit they're going to sing and praise the Lord. In fact, I would encourage you, the next time that you feel like you're in an overwhelming trial, try it, you'll like it. Kind of like Mikey, try that cereal, you'll like it. Those of you that don't know Paul Harvey don't know Mikey either in the cereal. But they lifted up their voices to praise God. It showed their faith was active. You know, an active faith can give thanks for a promise even though it hasn't been performed yet. Because what God says, He will do, right? Well, in verses 20 to 30 we have the victory. What an exciting story. So, they rise early in the morning, they went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa, and as they went forth, Joseph had stood in the wilderness of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, you will be established. Believe His prophets, and you will prosper. And when He consulted with the people, He appointed singers to the Lord who would praise the beauty of His holiness. And as they went out before the army, and they said, praise the Lord, His mercy endures forever. And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord said an ambush against the children of Amnon, Moab, Bount Seer, who were coming against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Amnon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Bount Seer, everyone helped to destroy each other. And when Judah came toward the watchtower in their wilderness, they looked to the multitude, and behold, there were dead bodies falling to the earth, and no one escaped. And when Joseph had and his people came to take away the spoil from them, they found among them an abundance rich as dead bodies, precious jewels, and they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away. They were three days in gathering the spoil. There was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled and the same place was called the valley of Baraka to this day. And they returned to every man of Judah, Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat, and the forefront of them to go with Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with salters and harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord, and the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard what the Lord had done against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest round about. The prophet Jehazel encourages them to believe faith was their armor, faith is their victory, and so instead of calling up swords for battle, he calls them to believe in God, believe in God. Ladies, I cannot think of anything else that will establish one's heart in shaking times in a firm belief in the mercy and faith and promise of God. In fact, do you notice here that it was when they began to sing, began to sing that the Lord began to act? Did you notice that in verse 25? It's not when they worried, it's not when they fretted but when they began to sing and praise the Lord. Now you might say, Susan, how did this happen? I mean how did it happen? They got there and they were destroying themselves. You know, I don't know. I have no idea. Maybe when we get to heaven we'll find out. Some people think it was done by angels and human forms that all of a sudden came down and everyone was terrified and they didn't know what was happening and so there was all these dissensions that developed and these feuds against each other and they began to fight against each other. Some people just believe that other things happened and that God just supernaturally caused them to turn on each other and to fight each other. I have no idea. The text doesn't tell us so I'm not to the word of God. But regardless, God allowed these wicked men to destroy each other and the work of destruction was complete before Jehoshaphat and his people arrived at the battlefield. These wicked people were used as instruments to destroy each other. Interesting, the march from Judah to Jerusalem would take five to six hours to get there and so by the time they got there it was all done. All done. And did you notice, ladies, when I read that no one escaped? All the bodies were dead. Every single one of them. You know when the Lord does a job, He does it completely. All gone. And you know I think this is a good point to bring out. I've noticed over the years when people are out to get me, to destroy me many times my husband will say, Susan, vengeance, what Paul says, vengeance is God's. He will repay. We don't need to fight. We don't need to defend ourselves. And when I try and defend myself that's usually when I make a mess of it. But when I just sit back and watch the Lord's hand, just let Him fight. Just let Him fight. And did you notice that it took three days to carry away all the stuff? The booty they call it, the jewels and all the precious things, the clothes, everything. Three days to get all the stuff. That reminds me of Ephesians 320, now the hymn that is able to exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think. You know I found that in my own life sometimes when God answers a prayer, He goes above and beyond of what I even ask Him for. He doesn't have to do that. I mean all He really had to do was destroy the amnites and the mobites, but instead they get to get all that stuff too. And I'm sure the people of Judah stood in awe at this. Wow. And ladies, He does it in our lives all the time. And so God blessed them. They turn around and bless Him. In fact they returned with joy, it says in verse 26, and they spent one whole day thanking God for His mercy. One whole day that's a rebuke to us, isn't it? I think that's where we fall short. Often like the parable of the 10 lepers, you know that the story of the 10 lepers, where Jesus heals you know 10 lepers are outside the camp and He comes in and they say, Lord we have mercy on us. They all 10 ask for healing. They all 10 get healed. Jesus says go your way show yourself to the priest. Offer the commandment that Moses commanded you the testimony that Moses commanded you before you can go back into your people. So they all 10 go and 1, a despised Samaritan turns around and thanks the Lord. And Jesus says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Weren't there 10? Did not I heal 10? Where's the other 9? Where's the other 9? Where's the other 9 lepers I healed? And ladies often we are like that. The Lord will do something amazing in our lives and we don't say we don't say thank you, not even thank you. Here we see these people giving one whole day over to thanksgiving and praising God for what He's done in their life. Well the result was the fear of the Lord was on all the kingdoms and the realm of Joseph that was quiet God gave him rest. When we put our eyes on him to fight for us, we too can be quiet, right? And bask in his goodness. If God could give us rest who can give us disturbance? If God is for us, who can be against us? Now quickly I want to end with the rest of the story in verses 31 to 37. Joseph at Reign Judy he was 35 years old when he began to reign he reigned 25 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shi'i he walked in the way of Asa his father departed not from it doing that to the Lord. However, the high places were not taken away for yet the people had not prepared their hearts and to the God of their fathers. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat first and last behold they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hananiah who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Israel join himself with High as the eye king of Israel who did very wickedly. He joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish and they made the ships in Aziyan Giber the son of Dohuvu of Maharsha prophesied against Jehoshaphat saying because you've joined yourself with a hazi'i the Lord has broken your works and the ships were broken and they could not go to Tarshish. Ladies, verse 35 what a telling to words, three words and after this seriously after this after God had done such great things for him after God gave him victory after God gave him all that wealth after this he goes and joins himself tries to join himself with a wicked king after God gave him such a deliverance he went and broke one of God's commandments and joined himself with a wicked king. Ladies, this is a warning to all of us take heed least we fall you know it goes without saying just when we've experienced have your genus just been on a spiritual high you know maybe after this conference you will be I don't know maybe you won't but you know a mountaintop just God has done amazing things we must be on the alert you know why because spiritual pride can come in, lift up our heart and we think ah I can dabble in sin just a little bit you know that guy was telling you about in the last session you know you never heard of me you know I'm this great I've done this we have that spiritual pride and we think ah no I can dabble in a little bit of sin I mean God must really love me you see what he just did for me ladies we cannot for a moment let our spiritual guard down because Satan will come in and attack but you know I love the end of the story because God is merciful he doesn't allow Jehoshaphat to sin completely he brings him to repentance how does he do that by a prophet who foretold a project and by a storm that came and broke the ships and they couldn't go to Tarshish now I wish we had time to get into all this 1st Kings 22 talks about it Psalm 48 talks about it you should read about it but the destruction of the ships was a judgment of God on Jehoshaphat for entering into an alliance with the Hasiah and Jehoshaphat wasn't strong enough to say no so God was merciful and broke the ships so he couldn't set sail what a great story so we read in verse 21 now Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers he was buried with his fathers in the city of David and Jehoraham his son reigned in his stead what a great story what a merciful ending so ladies what can we learn from this godly king during tough times what should you do when you don't know what to do 1. worship the Lord 2. ask others to assist you in prayer and fasting 3. acknowledge God's greatness 4. acknowledge God's goodness 5. remind God of his promises 6. tell God your problem 7. look to him for the answers 8. never fear the battle is the Lord's 9. have faith 10. allow your circumstances to humble you 11. praise the Lord in fact I have those 11 principles calligraphied and in my bathroom to remind myself what to do when I don't know what to do I just imagine if King Jehoshaphat were still alive today he would identify with Helen Lemiel's song that we sing so often in fact I don't know if you know anything about her but her husband abandoned her after she became blind in fact she's composed over 500 hymns and poems many which were for children and at the age of 55 she was reading a gospel track that contained these words so then turn your eyes upon him look full into his face and you will find the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness in fact she had a small plastic keyboard that she would keep by her bed so that she could write and compose hymns and she said one day in heaven I'm going to have a great heavenly keyboard and she said I can hardly wait anyway she composed the song that I think identifies with King Jehoshaphat Lord we don't know what to do but our eyes are upon you and so I don't know how many of you know this song but I would like to close with turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace would you stand and sing with me turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace